Lateral deflection ultra high frequency tube



Dec. 16, 1941'. c. v. LITTON I LATERAL DEFLECTION ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCYTUBE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 21, 1940 /JOZ INVENTOR amass n-L/rra/vATTORN v C. V. LlTTON Dec. 16, 1941.

LATERAL DEFLECTION ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY TUBE Filed Sept. 21, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR CV/ARLES ill/770 ATTOR Y Patented Dec. 16, 1941LATERAL DEFLECTION ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY TUBE Charles V. Litton, RedwoodCity, Calii'., assignor to International Standard Electric Corporation,New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application September 21,1940, Serial No. 357,735

6 Claims.

This invention relates to high frequency electrical discharge tubes andmore particularly to tubes operating by lateral deflection of anelectron beam.

Electrical discharge tubesv have been proposed for oscillationgeneration or amplification in which an electron beam is cyclicallydeflected laterally to cyclically impinge upon conductive sectors. Theenergy from the beam released upon such impingement may be used in aload circuit, and a portion of this energy may be regeneratively fedback to produce sustained oscillations.

According to my invention I propose to provide an electrical dischargetube wherein a laterally deflected beam is used as an oscillationgenerator or an amplifier.

It is an object of my invention to provide substantially closed resonantcircuits in the energy extracting circuit of an electrical dischargetube and/or to provide for energization of these circuits during only asmall portion of a fundamental cycle of operation.

It is a further object of my invention to provide means for minimizingwaste of energy from the electron beam used in the tube.

A better understanding of my invention, as well as the objects andfeatures thereof may be had from the description of particularembodiments thereof made with reference to the acinvention;

Fig. 2 is a curve used in explaining my invention;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view partly in section, of a preferredembodiment of my invention, and

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on lines M, 5-5, respectively,of Fig. 3.

In Fig. 1 is shown partly in section an ultrahigh frequency tubeembodying characteristics of my invention. In this figure an electronemissive cathode It is arranged to emit a beam of electrons underinfluence of positive potential applied by battery IW. Although thebattery Hill is shown as connected to the tube envelope for supplying anaccelerating potential by connection to other parts of the circuit, itis clear that if desired, a separate'accelerating electrode could beused. The beam from this cathode represented by broken lines It isalternately deflected by means of a pair of deflecting electrodes l2,53, so as to alternately impinge upon a pair of plates ll, l8.

a pair of resonant chambers l4, l5. These chambers may be in the form ofconcentric lines made effectively a quarter of a wavelength long at theoperating frequency. Thus, the beam Ii is deflected alternately to theright and left at a frequency determined by the resonant chambers. Asecond pair of substantially closed resonant chambers I9, 20, areoperatively connected to plates or anodes ll, l8. Resonant chambers I9,20, are also tuned to the operating frequency. Accordingly, when thebeam ll contacts the anodes ll, l8, the associated resonant circuits areexcited into oscillation at the operating frequency. In order that thesystem may operate to produce sustained oscillations, feedback lines 2!,22 are arranged between chambers l9, l4 and 20, i5. It is evident thatas beam ll oscillates between anodes ll, i8, oscillations of theoperating frequency at 180 phase difierence are 'produced in resonantchambers i9, 20. If then energy is extracted from chambers I9, 20, overloops 23, 24, a single phase energy may be provided by merely combiningthese outputs.

It is evident that at the time beam ll passes between electrodes ll, i8,energy of the beam will not be passed to the resonant chambers I8 and2|]. In order to preserve the efliciency of the tube a catcher electrode25 may be provided and energized at a low potential by means of batteryill! to slow down the electrons which pass anodes ll, l8, beforecollecting them. However, the efiiciency may be further enhanced bysupplying an additional electrode means such as 26 between anodesll,'l8, and applying to this electrode a negative potential from abattery such as Hi2. Because of the negative charge on electrode 26 theelectrons in the beam will tend to be deflected toward one of theelectrodes and as the beam is oscillated will snap suddenly from oneelectrode to the other without losingany electrons through the openingtherein. When this electrode 26 is furnished electrode 25 may beomitted.

The circuit arrangement shown in Fig. 1 may likewise be used for thepurpose of amplification instead of oscillation generation. It isnecessary in order. to obtain this operation merely to excite theresonant cavities l4, l5 by means of properly phased energy of thefundamental frequency so as to deflect the beam and then chambers l9 and20 will produce the amplified output current.

In the single phase embodiment of Fig. 1 it is Associated withdeflecting electrodes l2, l3 are clear that the electron beam willcontact each electrode during substantially 180 of a cycle at theoperating frequency.

A more eflicient operation may be obtained by a multiple phase circuitwherein the beam is rotated so that it falls on the respective anodesduring only a small portion of the operating cycle. Thus, the beam isefiective during a portion corresponding to the peak of one portion ofthe cycle of oscillation. A better illustration of this oscillation maybe had by reference to Fig. 2. In this figure, the potential is plottedagainst time. The sine wave of the oscillation produced in the resonantchambers, and likewise corresponding to the rotation rate of the beam,is illustrated by curve 200. During a portion of the peak, preferablynot more than 60 electrical degrees, cathode beam is in contact with.one of the anodes so as to produce an impulse 2M during a portion nearthe peak of one part of the cycle. Thus, a relatively efficientoperation of the tube is obtained since the value of a sine wave at 30either side of the peak value is substantially 87% of the peak value ofoscillation. An embodiment of my invention showing six phase operationis disclosed in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings Fig. 3 illustrates,partly in cross section, a perspective view of a tube adapted forsix-phase operation. This tube comprises an electron emitting cathode l0similar to that shown in Fig. 1. Three deflecting electrodes 30, 3| and32 are provided, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, only and 3| beingshown in Fig. 3. The beam from the cathode i0 is rotated in a circledependent upon the three-phase energization of' the elec trodes 30, 3|,32. Associated with each of the electrodes 30, 3| and 32 are resonantchambers or cavities 33, 34, 35. Preferably additional partitions 36,31, 38 ar provided 50-215 to more nearly form a complete closed resonantcircuit. The beam after passing the deflecting electrodes impinges inrotation on collector plates or anodes 40, 4|, 42, 43, 44 and 45, onlyfour of which are shown in Fig. 3. Associated with each of the anodes to45, inclusive, are corresponding resonant chambers to 55, respectively.Thus, as the beam is rotated the segmental plates 4|] to 45, aresuccessively energized, exciting oscillations of the given frequency inthe associated resonant chambers 50 to 55. Between each pair of adjacentanodes is arranged a plate 56 which serves as a negatively chargedelectrode causing the beam to snap immediately from one plat to thesucceeding plate so that few electrons, if any, are passed through theopenings between the plates. I

The electron beam deflection and the area of the plates are soadjusted'that the electron beam is eifective for, exciting. oscillationsduring not more than 60 vof the operating wavelength for each of saidchambers; The control of the electron beam for this purpose may be madeby suitably adjusting the potential'from battery I00 applied as theaccelerating potential to control the amount of deflection of the beam.If desired a collecting electrode 25 maintained at a small potential bymeans of a battery |0'| may be provided for collecting any electrodeswhich are passed between the anodes. Furthermore, a negative potentialis supplied from battery I02 to electrode 56. Every second one ofresonant chambers, such as chambers 50, 52 and 54 may be coupled back bymeans of transmission lines such as 60, 6| to the corresponding resonantchambers 33, 34, etc., of the deflection controlling system. Thus,oscillations may be generated in the system by the feedback loops so asto sustain operation of the tubes at the desired operating frequency.

A plurality of separate output lines, such as 10, 1|, [2, 13 may. bprovided for collecting the output energy from the separate resonantchambers. If a multiple phase load circuit is not provided the energyfrom these units may be combined over suitable phasing units to a load8|. Since the system will generally be operating at an ultra-highfrequency, phasing units may comprise merely additional lengths oftransmis sion line.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, I have shown a three-phasecontrol for the deflection of the beam together with a six-phase output.It is clear, however, that if desired a six-phase control for thedeflector may be provided. Ordinarily the three-phase rotation will befound sufiicient.

In this embodiment also, as explained in connection with Fig. 1, thetube may be used as an amplifier instead of an oscillation generatormerely by supplying suitably phased energy from an outside sourceinstead of using the feedback arrangements. Furthermore, any number ofphases may be supplied, it being merely necessary to provide a suitablenumber of collecting ghambers and suitable rotating means for the cam.

Although in the embodiments illustrated in the .that these cavities beso constructed that they are properly tuned to the operating frequency.

While I have disclosed particular arrangements of my invention inconnection with the accompanying drawings, it should be distinctlyunderstood that this disclosure is made merely by way of illustrationand not as a limitation on my invention. What I consider as my inventionand desire to secure protection upon is embodied in the accompanyingclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A high frequency system comprising emissive means for producing abeam of electrons, a plurality of deflecting electrodes arranged aboutsaid beam, a resonant circuit tuned to the operating frequency of saidsystem and coupled to each of said deflecting electrodes, a plurality ofsector shaped anode electrodes arranged in the path of said electronbeam for cyclic energization, a resonant circuit tuned to said operatingfrequency of said system coupled to each of said anodes, a negativelycharged electrode arranged between said anodes and a coupling betweeneach of said first-mentioned resonant circuits and one of saidlast-mentioned resonant circuits.

2. A high frequency system comprising emis- 3. A high frequency systemaccording to claim .1 wherein the number of deflecting electrodes is asubmultiple of the number of sector shaped anode electrodes.

4. A high frequency tube including emissive means for producing a beamof electrons, at least two anode means disposed alternately to interceptsaid beam, tuned chamber means resonant to a predetermined frequencycoupled to said anode means, and means for cyclically diverting saidbeam laterally at said predetermined frequency, said last-mentionedmeans comprising at least two deflecting electrodes, resonant chamhermeans coupled to each of said electrodes, and coupling means betweensaid tuned chamber means and said resonant chamber means, wherebysustained oscillations may be produced.

5. A high frequency tube according to claim 4, in which negativelycharged electrode means is provided between said anode means.

6. A high frequency system according to claim 2, wherein a collectorelectrode is provided for collecting electrons which pass through theopenings between said anodes.

CHARLES V. LI'ITON'.

